Fabulous Histories
Title page of the first edition
Author: Sarah Trimmer
Published: 1786
Publisher: T. Longman, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Pater-Noster-Row; and J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-yard
Summary: follows two families - one of humans and one of robins - as they learn to coexist peacefully, and as their children learn to avoid vice in order to become virtuous.
Importance: because she disapproved of fairy tales and was concerned with the potential damage of fiction on children readers, Trimmer made it explicitly clear in her preface that animals cannot talk, and that her story is completely fictional. She also refused for the book to be illustrated in her lifetime, as she did not want to make her fiction any more realistic. Additionally, her story reinforces several contemporary social hierarchies (parents > children, humans > animals, poor humans > hungry animals, etc.).
Online: http://books.google.com/books?id=D2wYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22fabulous+histories%22+trimmer&source=bl&ots=sCe_YkKuLH&sig=Xt6y5dPWZIneF4HgZM6Fh7tzSZE&hl=en&ei=LlAHTdXbE5-Qnwe6wemaDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Published: 1786
Publisher: T. Longman, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Pater-Noster-Row; and J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-yard
Summary: follows two families - one of humans and one of robins - as they learn to coexist peacefully, and as their children learn to avoid vice in order to become virtuous.
Importance: because she disapproved of fairy tales and was concerned with the potential damage of fiction on children readers, Trimmer made it explicitly clear in her preface that animals cannot talk, and that her story is completely fictional. She also refused for the book to be illustrated in her lifetime, as she did not want to make her fiction any more realistic. Additionally, her story reinforces several contemporary social hierarchies (parents > children, humans > animals, poor humans > hungry animals, etc.).
Online: http://books.google.com/books?id=D2wYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22fabulous+histories%22+trimmer&source=bl&ots=sCe_YkKuLH&sig=Xt6y5dPWZIneF4HgZM6Fh7tzSZE&hl=en&ei=LlAHTdXbE5-Qnwe6wemaDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false